UN monitored plan to release 3000 minor soldiers in Nepal
Three years after the end of the civil war in Nepal, a UN monitored action plan was signed in Kathmandu on Wednesday evening to release nearly 3000 minor Maoist soldiers who have been languishing in barracks, reports Utpal Parashar.
Three years after the end of the civil war in Nepal, a UN monitored action plan was signed in Kathmandu on Wednesday evening to release nearly 3000 minor Maoist soldiers who have been languishing in barracks.
The plan signed by the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the Nepal government and two UN representatives specifies that the children would be released within a specified time.
"The process of release would start from December 27 and will be completed in 40 days. It will be followed by monitoring and rehabilitation of the discharged children," said Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict.
After their discharge from the barracks where they are staying since 2006, the minors will be provided education, health, business and vocational training by UN bodies to lead a normal life away from violence.
During an UN-led verification completed in December 2007, it was found that of the over 19000 Maoist guerillas living in barracks after singing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2006, nearly 3000 were minors.
Of the 2973 minors identified, 30 per cent are girls. UN officials say that at present 20 of them are under16 and 500 are under 18 years of age.
Witnesses to the signing of the plan, UCPN (Maoist) Chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, Peace and Reconstruction Minister Rakam Chemjong and Karin Landgren, chief of UN Mission in Nepal hoped that the move will help take the stalled peace process in Nepal to its logical conclusion.
